Law Commons^™

Preservation Of The North: Evaluating The Influence Of Indigenous Rights Laws & Commitments On Saami Self-Determination, Courtney Marie Bergsieker

Senior Theses

Despite the Nordic countries’ commitment to robust international Indigenous rights agreements, Europe’s only recognized Indigenous people, the Saami, struggle against the dispossession of their traditional lands in the northern regions of Sweden and Norway. As many states seek to capitalize on the development opportunities presented by the circumpolar Arctic while also recognizing the rights of Indigenous peoples, Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination are widely discussed and relevant issues. How effectively do national laws and international Indigenous rights commitments protect the Saami from these potentially invasive natural resource developments on their traditional lands? In this thesis, I aim to answer this question …